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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29147991">The Days In Between (TOTP)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatherFang/pseuds/FeatherFang'>FeatherFang</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tale of the Phantom series [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Destiny (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>28 day challenge, Crimson day challenge, F/M, Romance, Shenanigans, friends being friends, off camera moments, random moments, small chapters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:54:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>18,814</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29147991</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatherFang/pseuds/FeatherFang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The silly, fun, meaningful, and loving moments never caught on camera of Cayde, Skylar, and clan Hidden Wings that happens between book one and two of Tale of the Phantom. Non-log format. Based on a 28 day Crimson day word challenge, but not following the daily updates. No more than 1000 words. No Beta reader (will do so after the event is over). Rated from T-M. Note: you don't need to read this to understand book one or two of the Tales of the Phantom series. This is just extras.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cayde-6/Female Guardian (Destiny), Cayde-6/human hunter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tale of the Phantom series [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139480</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Crimson</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>1) Crimson<br/>2) Vow<br/>3) Cupid's Knife<br/>4) Fighting Together<br/>5) Kiss<br/>6) Crush<br/>7) First Date<br/>8) Bow &amp; Arrow<br/>9) Adored<br/>10) Confessions<br/>11) Secret Admirer<br/>12) Together<br/>13) Table For Two<br/>14) Love Letter<br/>15) Friendship<br/>16) Date<br/>17) Solo<br/>18) Hearts<br/>19) Bouquet<br/>20) Dove<br/>21) Rose<br/>22) Dance<br/>23) Poem<br/>24) Gift<br/>25) Partners<br/>26) Serenade<br/>27) Ring<br/>28) Free Choice</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Z,” Skylar started, giving a wary glance at her best friend and fireteam leader. “I’m probably going to regret asking this but… what are you doing?” her question is left unanswered for several seconds as she watched him, arms crossed to help stave off the chill of a snow-covered, long-abandoned town in northern Germany.  Well, abandoned by humans anyway. Z had been tasked with taking care of a rather large group of fallen in the area and because she was bored, Skylar had tagged along. With no Hidden missions for the next week and Cayde busy doing his job – which she was proud of him for doing of course, but she did kind of miss sneaking out behind Zavala’s back.</p><p>Z waved a hand as he sidestepped from his crouched spot, a rather large line of dormant trip mines carefully attached to the ground. “Doing what I do best Sky, trying out a new idea – for science of course.” Science her ass, but she didn’t argue. “Almost done.” He attached two more before standing, hands on his hips and nodding in approval. “Okay, I’m going to go bait them out, you -” he pointed to a near by building on the other side of the street. “Should go up to the roof and pick off any stragglers I don’t get.”</p><p>“Uh… okay…” she glanced at the seemingly random cluster of mines that stretched a rather large expanse of the road. Z nodded, and moments later his helmet was on and he was speeding off on his sparrow. Skylar sighed, rubbing the back of her neck and turning to look at the building. It was rather tall – a good half dozen stories at least, so it took a bit of jumping to get up to the top. Once she did, she turned, grabbed her sniper from her back, and then looked down… and felt her jaw drop open.</p><p>What she'd thought were seemingly random mines weren’t random at all. From so high up she could clearly see he'd had a plan all along. Somehow her friend had managed to write out a word on the ground with the deadly explosives: Ka-boom. Dragging her hand down her face slowly Skylar let out a small, long-suffering sigh. How – HOW did he even do that? Not to mention… why?</p><p>Her exasperation would have to wait, as she heard the tell-tale sounds of pikes – and many of them at that – coming towards them. Sure enough, as she looked, Z came barreling around the corner on his sparrow, nearly a dozen fallen on pikes chasing him. Skylar watched as he led them over the word made of mines and as he reached the end, jumped up – triple jumping as high as he could, and then chucked another trip mine into the center of the trap. It lit up every single one of its brothers, casting the strip of road in a crimson light that bounced off the Fallen who had made there was across it. The sight lasted but a moment and then Skylar winced as a huge explosion wracked the area throwing up smoke and metal parts everywhere, causing her to sidestep as a muffler bounced across the roof. For just a moment, she thought she heard Z curse on their open com along with the screams of the poor fallen before everything went silent.</p><p>She was rather sure she knew what had just happened and because there was no way there were any stragglers, Skylar made her way back down the building as the smoke cleared. Broken pikes and charred fallen littered the area and as she turned towards the end of the street, she spotted the familiar red and white ghost.  Sparks scanned the body of its partner slowly before expanding with a flash of blue and reviving him. Shaking her head, she walked forward as Z stumbled on newly made legs and rubbed the back of his neck, ruffling brown hair.  The moment he spotted Skylar, he gave her a thumbs up and grinned.</p><p>“Success!”</p><p>She stared at him for a good long three seconds before covering her eyes with a hand and laughing. He was crazy, but she couldn’t think of a better day out than with Z and his trip mine happy ways.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Vow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cayde's missed his girlfriend... but she's missed him more.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The day had been long and annoying empty, leaving Cayde to feel like bashing his damn head into the wall and only not doing so because it would likely damage his horn. Barring that, once he had slipped into the elevator, he hit a familiar floor button that wasn’t his own. Skylar had apparently gotten back from her mission of two weeks down in South America when he’d been out getting lunch.  He could have just called her via ghost channels, but the exo had made a vow to himself to always check in on her in person when she got home from a mission. The few times he hadn’t, he’d regretted it, due to the fact that he spent all night wishing she was there. So if she didn’t show up towards the end of his shift in the Vanguard room, he always went and found her.</p><p>It had been a long day – and an even longer two weeks.</p><p>Knocking on her apartment’s door – living areas given by the vanguard within the tower – he waited a moment before hearing a voice from inside.</p><p>“Come in!”  Skylar must have known it was him, Sterling no doubt recognized Sundance’s signature like it was his own by now. Opening the door and shutting it behind him, Cayde walked into the studio apartment, the large room holding everything except for the bathroom that was hidden behind another door. He found the amber-haired hunter in the process of taking off her boots, the rest of her armor already off and laying it on a small table to get cleaned before she had it stored away for the night. She paused and looked up at him. “Hey.”</p><p>“Hey yourself,” He replied walking over in time to see her unclasp the last boot clip and tug it off, throwing it under the table. She moved to the other one – the foot propped up on her bed – as cayde stopped a bit behind her, watching her. “Sorry I missed you when you got back.”</p><p>She rolled her eyes.</p><p>“You act as if we wouldn’t see each other again if that were the case,” she mused, undoing each clasp on her boot carefully. “Everyone needs to eat Cayde, don’t worry about it.” The second boot joined its brother under the table. Cayde took no time in easily wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her back a few inches till she hit his chest. She didn’t resist, and he ducked his head slightly he nuzzle the back of hers.</p><p>“Welcome home,” he whispered finally, his arms tightening for a moment. She hummed and he closed his eyes, letting the peace of the moment settle around them. “I missed you,” he admitted and felt her fingers glide over his arm.</p><p>“Missed you too my Comet.”</p><p>He never got tired of hearing her call him. Moving his head to the side he pressed his mouth plates to the side of her neck and nipped, feeling her tense slightly before quickly turning in his arm that he’d loosened. Solar met arc colored eyes for only a moment before she stroked the side of his jaw and then he was kissing her.  The hand on his jaw trailed up and over the front of his horn and he shuttered as she knocked his hood off in order to grip at the jointed pieces of his neck. Biting her lower lip, Skylar made a small sound and Cayde let go of her waist with an arm to tangle it in her hair.</p><p>He loved her so damn much it was nearly painful and the only way to ease that was to hold her close just like this. Pulling away he met her half-lidded gaze and swallowed.</p><p>“Have dinner with me tonight?” he asked, moving his fingers to run them through her short hair. She hummed again, leaning in and giving him another brief kiss, pulling back before he could do anything about it.</p><p>“Of course,” her hand trailed along the spines of his neck as she tilted her head. “I need a shower first though… care to join me?” her lips twitched into a smirk and Cayde forgot entirely about asking her where she’d like to go. He’d been trying to stave that want, that need till later. Apparently, Skylar wasn’t so keen on that.</p><p>“What about Winter?” he asked, raising his brow plate. Skylar did share the bathroom with the warlock that lived next door. Her smirk split into a grin and she tilted her head up, nose running across the front of his horn and making him snap his jaw shut, the hand in her hair fisting.</p><p>“She’s still away on a mission,” she informed him and gently took a step back. Begrudgingly, he let go of her as she nodded towards the cracked open door. “Join me when you’re ready, alright?”</p><p>He considers for about five seconds to take his time and make her wait as he slowly got his armor off, which went straight out the window the moment she chucked her underwear right out in front of him, her giggle echoing out from the bathroom.  </p><p>Transmitting his clothes off was a lot faster anyway.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Cupid's Knife</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Skylar tells Cayde about an interesting event during date night.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I saw the strangest thing today,” Skylar told Cayde after taking a sip of her Blue Stardust drink. It was Friday night, and that meant bar night for the two of them – if they happened to both be available that is – a chance to catch up on the week’s events. In the low lighting of the amber lit bar, the glow of his optics seemed almost like an awoken’s eyes: slight eerie but beautiful all the same. The exo tilted his head, green drink in hand.</p><p>“Coming from you, that’s quite a feat. What happened?” At his tease, she gave him a playful glower, snatching up a fry from his plate. “Hey!”</p><p>Smirking she quickly chewed and swallowed before explaining.</p><p>“Was in the training range today. Thought I’d work on some knife throwing to pass the time. There was a newbie next to me, she was having a pretty hard time getting anything to fly even slightly straight.” Skylar gave a small shrug and took a sip of her drink. “I figured I’d try to give her some pointers.”</p><p>“You miss showing Tristan the ropes that much?” Cayde mused and Skylar rolled her eyes.</p><p>“You say that as if I had a choice in the matter, he nearly badgered me into it.”</p><p>“Right…” he drew out the word and Skylar narrowed her eyes at him, gaze flicking down to his plate as if in a warning. He cleared his throat and made a show of pulling it slightly more towards him. “Continue.” He tries to ignore the raised brow, as is she’s silently telling him that won’t stop her. Still, she goes back to her pizza instead.</p><p>“She’s going by Tali,” she goes on after a moment. “I showed her how to hold it – by the blade – and after a few times, she finally hits the middle ring.” A smile twitched at her lips as if she was trying really hard to not laugh at what came next. “She got so excited she fist pumped and the other knife she’d been holding went shooting behind her. The next thing we know, someone yelps behind us. Turns out a titan had been walking behind us towards the shooting range when she did it, and it landed smack dab in the side of his shoulder. Thankfully, his armor was thick enough that the yelp was more out of surprise than pain.”</p><p>“No kidding,” Cayde agreed. “Those things are big enough to have their own center of gravity sometimes.” His joke got her to finally smile, which appeared to be his goal. “What’s so weird about that though? Did Tali start groveling or something?”</p><p>“No… well, she was really sorry, but not that sorry.” She took another bite of her food, chewing slowly in order to gather her thoughts. “The guy didn’t seem upset at all, just pulled it out and handed it back. What was weird, is he chose the closest shooting bench to us and then I kept seeing him sneak glances at Tali, and when I mean glances, I mean the curious and interested glances.”</p><p>“So…” Cayde tapped his finger on his glass. “Let me get this straight…she hit him with a knife… and he, what, liked it? Did it turn him on or something?” His last comment almost had Skylar choking on her drink, a string of coughs having him pause and give her a small smirk. Over a year together and she still got embarrassed about that kind of stuff and he knew it. She gave another shrug, trying to act like it didn't happen.</p><p>“I guess? Some people just fall fast. Anyway, I had to leave shortly after that, but as I did glance back and saw him making his way back towards her.” She smiled, thinking back to past events about them. Cayde tilted his head again and reached across the table to put his hand over hers.</p><p>“That is a bit odd,” he agreed. “I mean… I thought cupid used arrows, not knives, but hey, maybe we got it wrong.” He raised his other hand up in a ‘hell if I know’ motion and Skylar shook her head at his antics, flipping her hand over to lace her fingers through his backward.</p><p>“I don’t think it matters, not as long as they’re happy.”</p><p>Cayde hummed, using his free hand to pick up a fry and comically hold it out to her. She laughed and leaned over to bite it right out of his hand, gaze pointedly meeting his. Letting go, Cayde picked up his glass and held it out in front of her.</p><p>“I can certainly drink to that.”</p><p>Chewing, Skying nodded her head and clinked her glass against his.</p><p>“Defiantly.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Fighting Together</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Clan Hidden Wing finally got the event they'd been looking for.<br/>Sorry for any typos...Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Everyone ready?” Cayde asked, excitement thrumming through him. Standing off in a back corridor that led outside to a rundown construction zone on Earth, he made eye contact with ever single person in the area, and as he expected, Corvan is the first one to say something. Pushing off from where he’d been leaning on the wall.</p><p>“Is that really even a question?”</p><p>“For once, I agree with him,” Z spoke up right after, his hands busy with a trip mine that he is flipping, arming and disarming it over and over again. “You’re the one who might have put this together Cayde, but we’ve all been dying to do this. I just want to know <em>how</em> you did this.”</p><p>Cayde raised an eyebrow. “That’s a secret – me and Shaxx, we have our deals.”</p><p>“That’s a load of shit and you know it Cayde,” Shiro said on a laugh, Tristan who is standing with him smirking as he toys with a knife, a gloved finger sliding over the edge of the blade. “Shaxx hasn’t trusted you in the Crucible since you modded your own pants.”</p><p>“Hey now, you know they were just luck, nothing more to it, and I did help put this together, so you should be thank me.” Behind him, a soft snort reached his ears and then arms wrapped around his shoulders, a nose nuzzling his cheek through his hood.</p><p>“We should also thank Ikora for putting up with all of this,” Skylar mused, his back pressed flush against her which he admittedly enjoyed a bit more than he should have. It was enough that he didn’t even care that she spoiled his fun. All of the other guys just smirk or grinned at his apparent whipped status.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, eat it up – you’re all just jealous.”</p><p>“I’m not,” Shiro chuckled. “I have a girlfriend.”</p><p>“Cause exos are sexy.”</p><p>“Exactly.”</p><p>Skylar laughed pressing closer to him in agreement, while all the humans just scowled or rolled their eyes. Cayde opened his mouth to say more before the booming sound of a familiar voice echoed over everyone’s coms and through every damn volo vid and TV back at the City he was sure.</p><p>“Next on the line up today is a special private match you’re all going to be screaming about!” Shaxx’s voice was a que for them to get moving and after he ran a hand over one of Skylar’s arms, she let go.  The others moved to follow them as Cayde led her out of the shadows and onto the field. “It’s the one and only Clan Hidden Wings, divided and led by our very own Vanguard leaders! This is going to be a fight to remember!”</p><p>Across the way, Cayde spotted Ikora and Haar speaking quietly, both of them armed with shotguns. Around them stood Noble, Cassidy, Winter, and Will-7. For just a moment Cayde felt a slight amount of nerves that quickly turned back into excitement as his teammate and long time friend met his gaze across the field. He hadn’t been in a match with Ikora since before either of them was a Vanguard leader and he couldn’t wait to see what would happen.</p><p>“We’ve got this,” Tristan boasts with confidence, reloading his Hawkmoon. “We’ve got the six best damn hunters in the tower, they’ll be ghosted into oblivion.”</p><p>“True…” Shiro agreed with a nod, pulling a sniper rifle from his back. “But we’re also facing some of the best Titans, my girl included, in the tower along with two extremely powerful warlocks…and Will.”</p><p>Corvan chuckled along with Skylar who cracked her knuckles and then pulled two hunter knives from her belt.</p><p>“Teams get ready!” Shaxx called, and Cayde caught the glow of two fire wreathed hammers and a crackle of arc dancing over gloved hands across the field.</p><p>“Hold steady guys,” he reminded them as every hunter tensed. “Don’t show your hands quiet yet.” A loud horn deafened the air, only beaten by the Battle Master’s shout.</p><p>“Match start!”</p><p>They all moved and out of the corner of his eye Cayde saw Corvan jump off a pile of boxes and fire a shadow shot straight at a twin pair of charging titans, one of their hammers soaring right at the hunter. Skylar’s blades and arms became adorned with arc energy as she glanced at him in a silent signal. Cayde nodded, the grin on his face nearly hurting his jaw hinges. This was going to be the best damn game in history. Skylar ran straight at Haar, blades slashing out waves of lightning that the titan blocks with a ward of dawn. Will jumped out from behind him, palms glowing orange and readying to strike the blade dance down.</p><p>Too bad it was all according to plan.</p><p>Running forward, Cayde felt the surge of warmth ignite up his arm and cover his Ace of Spades. He aimed and fired, sending the force of a sun at the warlock, turning him to ash in seconds as Skylar lept over Haar and moved out of sight.</p><p>And that was just the first fifteen seconds of the match.   </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Kiss</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Just some slightly inappropriate quality time.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Cayde,” Skylar said with a giggle as warm metal trailed down her side, feather-light and ticklish. “Someone is going to find us-” she squeaked as mouth plates nipped at her ear.</p><p>“Don’t care,” Cayde whispered and repeated the gesture, pressing her flush against the wall. She’d tried to be a good guardian; Skylar had tried to go and turn in her report into Ikora. She hadn’t planned on someone snatching her hand as she came down the stairs and then pulling her into the shadowed corner of them, just before the hall into the Crucible Master’s area. Skylar had tried to dissuade him, she really had – but he knew exactly how to make a no turn into a yes and it <em>wasn’t fair.</em> She closed her eyes, metal skidding down the shell of her ear as she reached up and into his hood to grab at his neck.</p><p>“Shaxx is literally right there,” she pointed out quietly, weakly as he moved to run his mouth along the side of her jaw, a hand tangled in her hair.</p><p>“Don’t care,” he mused again, and Skylar gave a small, resigned sigh and then let the smallest of arc currents run up her arm and into her hand that was currently attached to the base of his skull. Cayde tensed, pulling her hair slightly before he let out a small, half-choked back groan. Skylar smirked and used her free hand to brush the metal of his cheekbone.</p><p>“Then I don’t either.” Well, not much anyway.</p><p>Huffing he straightened and then in a matter of a second captured her mouth against his, stepping a leg between hers and nipped and bit at her lips. She shuttered, letting him deepen it as she ran her tongue along the inside of his mouth and the hand that at hand been at her waist moved down to grip her hip and tug it against his own. So close – too close maybe, but perfect all the same.</p><p>“I love you,” she whispered when he pulled away to move on to her neck, the hand in her hair moving to tug down her scarf. He chuckled, tugging her hip against his again, and embarrassingly, she let out a small whine.</p><p>“Of course you do,” he breathed, biting at her pulse. “Almost as much as I love you.”</p><p>Cheeky bastard. Skylar had half a mind to run arc right up his horn and ruin him right there and now –</p><p>The deep cleaning of one's throat sounded in front of her, calm and clear and a bit sublet if she were honest with herself. Her eyes snapped open, even if Cayde didn’t stop what he was doing, and spotted Shaxx, leaning on the wall edge that led into the Hall of Glory, as he referred to it. His arms were crossed loosely, head tilted, and she was pretty sure he was smirking under that damn one-horned helmet. He was enjoying this, she just knew it, and all Skylar could do was stare like a dumb ass and turn bright red at being caught like this. She patted Cayde’s neck and pulled her hand away as he stopped mid nip, realizing she’d tensed up, and not in a good way. Straightening, he looked over his shoulder and Skylar spotted the hint of a scowl on his face as he saw what she did.</p><p>“Yeah?” he grumbled as if what they were doing was completely normal, run of the mill behavior. Shax stared at them for a moment before his head tilted towards the stairs up into the sunlight.</p><p>“If I were you Cayde, I would find somewhere else to do that before Zavala gets back from his lunch and you end up in a situation neither of you wants.” He nodded slightly. “He should be back any moment now.”</p><p>The exo cursed and after a quick kiss to her forehead, pulled away, releasing her. Tugging at his hood, he cleared his throat slightly.</p><p>“Zavala needs to learn to unwind a bit.” He glanced at her again, a look passing between them that clearly stated: they weren’t finished. Skylar smiled, biting her lip slightly, and nodded her head. She watched him hesitate for a moment as if he really just wanted to go back to what they were doing, but then he turned and headed back towards the Vanguard room, passing Shaxx without a word. Skylar sighed, rubbing her neck as she pushed off the wall.</p><p>“Thanks for having our back Shaxx,” she told him, warmth still on her cheeks as she rubbed at one. The battle master chuckled.</p><p>“He’s a bit of a handful, isn’t he? You’ve learned to manage him rather well, most times anyway.” He straightened from the wall. “You might want to fix your cloak before heading on it.” With that, the titan turned and walked away, leaving Skylar to fuss with her skewed and rumbled cloak.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Crush</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Skylar has some girl talk with Cassidy.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was something to it all: a day with no one but female friends. As the much less numerous gender in clan Hidden Wings, Skylar often found the whole event a bit surreal and refreshing. Including herself, there were only four members that were women, and one of them had only joined up with them half a year beforehand, though she’d been around quite a while.</p><p>“You should try this on Skylar,” Cassidy held up a blue and green plaid button-up in front of the hunter. Skylar glanced down and then back up, giving the white-blond awoken a weary look before carefully taking it from her and adding it to the three shirts she already had. “It will look great with your marking,” she went on, and Skylar had to bite back a giggle at the statement. Cas was one of the few titans she knew that had a decent taste for fashion, certainly better than Skylar’s and she was a hunter. If it hadn’t been for Cassidy, she would have gone to The Dawning she’d gotten together with Cayde at in her normal armor.</p><p>Safe to say the awoken had been horrified and dragged her down to the market – which was where they were now. Skylar glanced over the rack she was standing in front of, spotting her other two teammates and friends – and both awoken as well, really, how had that happened? – and saw them chatting. Winter and Lilith got along swimmingly, despite the redhead being a hot head and the Hidden agent being something between snarky and wise. Now that Skylar thought about it, she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Winter not get along with someone. Looking back to Cassidy she gave a one-shoulder shrug.</p><p>“I really don’t think Cayde cares that much about what I wear,” she said continuing on a conversation they’d been having for the last few minutes. “I think he simply likes taking them off.”</p><p>Cassidy let out a small single laugh.</p><p>“Ha, yeah well, they all like doing that – but trust me they appreciate a pretty package.” She put her free hand on her hip. “Have you tried using that gift I got you for your birthday?”</p><p>“I…erm… no.” She shifted a bit, turning to thumb through the rack of clothes. Cassidy gave a dramatic sigh but patted her shoulder all the same. “It’s okay you know, it’s only been… what, almost a year? Maybe save it for that.” Meaning, Skylar better use it or she’d do something even more embarrassing, like tell Cayde. Stopping to look at another shirt, she paused, glancing at her friend again.</p><p>“Hey, Cas?”</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>“I’m just wondering… how did you and Shiro end up together?” She wasn’t sure she’d ever asked either of them, and she felt silly for not doing so. Cassidy removed her hand from her shoulder and scratched at the back of her head for a second.</p><p>“We were on a mission together, with a warlock… I forgot his name.” Ouch. “I remember thinking Shiro had only been around a few years at that point and I’d never really spoken to him before. It was a long mission, we ended up talking a lot since the Warlock… Sam? I think his name was Sam, he took to looking around the area while he made sure nothing happened around our camp or anything. I remember he was a lot older than both of us. Probably didn’t like being stuck with a newbie.” She shifted her wait, setting her load of try-on from one arm to the other. “It wasn’t like anything amazing happened but… I guess I just enjoyed his company and he felt the same way. We ended up sharing Ghost com channels and stayed in touch. He was, is… well, you know.” She waved a hand.</p><p>Skylar raised a brow.</p><p>“Do I?”</p><p>Instead of getting embarrassed or flustered, Cassidy finally just smiled, glancing across the way at their friends. They were heading towards the changing rooms with more clothes each than the two of them - Skylar and Cassidy - combined. Not that surprising and neither commented at the titan went on.</p><p>“I didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late, and by then, I didn’t care.” She tilted her head, eyes thoughtful. “I’ve been alive a while, been with people before, but it was so easy with him. One night after drinks with friends, I asked him what he thought about me.”</p><p>“What did he say?”</p><p>“‘Everything’,” she said with humor. “He said ‘Everything, because all I can think about is you’.” She met Skylar’s gaze with glowing green eyes, the softest smile on her face. “And I told him it was the same for me and that was all it took, we’ve been together ever since.”</p><p>“That’s… wow. I’m kind of jealous,” Skylar said with a small smile. “Wish Cayde had been that easy to convince.”</p><p>“It was worth it though, right?” Cas asked, and Skylar hummed, thinking about that day during the Dawning. There'd been no kissing, no long embraces – but talking and clasped hands and a sense of rightness. A sense that had never gone away.</p><p>“It always will be.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. First Date</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Skylar recalls the early days of her relationship with Cayde after realizing how much time has passed.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The eerie candles of The Festival of the Lost were scattered everywhere in the tower, casting purple light on the walls and floor like stardust in the sky. Sitting up in one of the trees that normally held pink flowers, but was now bear due to the cold, Skylar ran a hand over a string of orange lights. With her hood pulled up, the fur ruff kept the chill of twilight off her ears, and from her vantage point, she watched as a pair of kids – probably children from one of the civilian doctors – ran past her wearing masks, completely unaware of the hunter. That suited her just fine.</p><p>Shifting on the tree branch, she moved to rest her back on it, carefully balanced with a foot hooked under another as she laid, watching in stars slowly appear.  It was where she stayed for a long time, let one leg hand off the side, and popping pieces of candy into her mouth. Her mind drifted along with different thoughts with little monitoring, till something slid to the side on her chest and she blinked. Grabbing at the charm around her neck, Skylar fingered the carved amber, her mind coming to a pause on one thought.</p><p>Two months – well a little less, but still close to that. In two months, it would be the last day of The Dawning, and her one-year anniversary with Cayde. It made her giddy, a smile on her lips every time she thought about it. How in the world had it been almost a year? Things had gone from stair crazy end of the world shit back-to-back… to back – and then it had just… stopped. The last two months had been… dare she say it slow?  Having so much free time gave her time to think, to realize that in two months that yes, it had been a year.</p><p>“Shit,” she murmured to herself, before biting off another piece of candy and chewing.</p><p>Skylar remembers a lot of things from the last year, but if she really, really narrowed it down, the one stuck with her, was the first time she and Cayde had gone out as something more than friends. Playing with her necklace she remembered how damn nervous she had been about the entire thing. Sure, she’d been the one to kiss him that night after the poker game, but she’d been tipsy and that gave you quite a bit of courage.</p><p>She'd had to remind herself, as she sat by the entrance of that restaurant that hunters were the Vanguard’s courage – she could do it.  Thankfully, as it turned out Cayde – smooth-talking, devil-may-care exo – had been nervous too. The nerves had lasted all of fifteen minutes before finally, they fell back into what had always been them: talking and laughing, and just enjoying what they had.  He hadn’t kissed her on the first date, nor on their second, but rather not on a date at all. It had been like today really, she’d been stargazing on her favorite overhand on the tower, the one she’d always gone to, and he had joined her.  </p><p>She'd been gone a while, a long Hidden mission on Mars where for a while there she couldn’t even make ghost calls because of how deep under the sand she’d been. He’d worried, she’d known that from the moment she’d seen him in the vanguard room as she’d turned in her report, but it had been busy and they hadn't gotten the chance to talk. That night on the overhang, Cayde asked her how she came back every time with a small smile on her face despite everything she’d been through. Skylar remembered laughing quietly and reaching out to poke the tip of his horn before she’d replied.</p><p><em>‘You, silly. Because I’m happy to see you.</em>’</p><p>And then he’d kissed her.</p><p>A sound below her perked her senses before quite suddenly something grabbed on her dangling foot and yanked. Completely caught off guard Skylar scrambled to try and catch the tree branch she was on but failed to do so, dropping the candy in her hands instead. She let out a small curse and winced her eyes shut, waiting for the pain of landing on concrete to hit her. Instead, she fell straight into waiting arms that were warm and sturdy. Opening an eye, she found herself staring at a poorly made Eris mask.</p><p>“Boo!” Cayde whispered, moving his head closer to her. Scowling at him she shoved his head back and used two fingers to take the mask off. Optics blinking in the dark shadows of the tower he grinned and Skylar rolled her eyes - <em>very funny</em>.</p><p>“Was wondering if you’d ever get done down there,” she commented, her hand trailing down the side of his face, the mask falling to the ground forgotten for the moment. Cayde shifted her slightly in his arms.</p><p>“Well, I was done, but then I couldn’t find you till a kid came screaming past me shouting about a leg in a tree.”</p><p>“Oh, for the love of…” her other hand rubbed at her eyes. She probably should have known better than to stay in the tree once it was dark. She gave her boyfriend a disgruntled look and he just tilted his head. “…you going to put me down?”</p><p>“Nah,” He ducked his head to press his mouth to her temple. “Figure I did my trick, now I deserve a treat.”  </p><p>Skylar laughed.</p><p>“You are such a dork!”</p><p>“And you love me for it.”</p><p>Her thumb brushed across his jaw and her eyes told him her answer – then she kissed him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Bow & Arrow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sometimes, Iron Lord tales, should remain tales.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“…You think we should stop them?” Skylar asked Haar quietly. The hunter was sitting on the stone wall that the titan was leaning on, her legs dangling next to his head as they both looked at their other teammates – Noble and Z – who were standing on top of a sandy dune, their backs to the watchers. “I mean I know they think they can pull it off somehow, but there’s a reason Iron Lords did it.”</p><p>“I mean, technically, all of us here are Iron Lords,” Haar pointed out. “Honorary ones at least.” True enough, Saladin had said as much after the SIVA problem and the raid that had followed. At the time it had seemed surreal, now when she looked back on it, Skylar just saw it as another day on the job.</p><p>She still wanted to take the white wolf – she’d named him Frost – home with her. They bonded; how could Saladin keep them apart? Looking back to her friends, she knew they were planning on taking out an entire group of Cabal below and Skylar pressed her lips.</p><p>“You sure we shouldn’t do something?”</p><p>“Nah,” The exo waved a hand. “Just enjoy the show.”</p><p>So that was exactly what Skylar did.</p><p>She watched Z work with Noble to pick the much large titan up, wobbling a bit with the shifting sand under his feet.  Even from their distance away, Skylar saw his arms shake, but he still manages it, shifting his arms so that he can throw his friend forward in an instant. Noble’s crackling arc energy lit him up moments later, his legs straight, his arms out before him and Z took a step to launch the thunder crash like an arrow from a bow.</p><p>The sand slipped under his feet again and while Noble did indeed go flying off, Skylar was fairly sure that wasn’t the right angle as she watched him disappear behind the dune. Z put a hand on his bent knee and leaned forward, watching what Skylar couldn’t see. They waited, and then the sharp blue light of a touchdown flashed around the dune and a crackle of static came over the coms. Z didn’t move, at least not at first, then all at once, he started laughing.  Glancing at Haar, Skylar quickly jumped down and the two of them started up the hill – just what were they missing?</p><p>Once they’d joined their fireteam leader, Skylar searched the area below and found the bodies of many cabala on the ground. She blinked, surprised it had still hit before she realized someone was missing. Eyes flashing around she searched for Noble before finally finding him… at least his legs anyway. Flailing legs. Pressing her lips tightly shut, Skylar tried to keep from laughing as she watched Noble try to find a way out of his predicament. It seemed that yes, the attack had worked, but no, the angle hadn’t been good, and now said titan was buried backward into another sand dune like an ostrich.</p><p>Her efforts lasted all of five seconds.</p><p>Then she joined Z and Haar in howling laugher.</p><p>“Would you assholes stop laughing and get me out of here!” Noble’s voice raged over the coms and snorting a laugh, Skylar slowly made her way down the slope, her friends not too far behind. They didn’t stop laughing completely till they’d pulled their friend out and watched his helmet relight his iconic flaming eyebrows like a torch given back air.</p><p>That of course, got them all going again, even Noble, who couldn’t stay mad at them very long at all.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Adored</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Nightmares haunt his mind, but she will always make them insignificant.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>The tower loomed like some faceless god, and not a benevolent one, not even close. His breath wheezed out, arms shaking as he lowers his gun to stare at the bodies in from of him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Banshee. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Zavala. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ikora. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Amanda.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Countless people among them, but those are the ones he sees in his fleeting glance before returning his gaze to the tower, to the crypt that called in screeching melodies – dozes of voices overlapping and fighting for dominance – that hurt his ears more and more the closer he gets. He can’t stop. He won’t. His boots splashed through crimson pools as he walked on past those who had stood in his way. He’ll be there soon. The cold didn’t bother him, the roaring wind didn’t either. He walked and walked and walked - </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Then she was there.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Hair as bright as solar energy, blue across amber eyes that pleaded silently with him. She was in the way. No. she’s not. She was never in the way she… she’s blocking his path. His hands rose again, his gun pointing forward, staring her down. She had to move. Just move. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Cayde, please…” she whispered a desperate plead. “Don’t do this.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He didn’t want to, never did.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Light flickered shadows over her form and for a moment, just a moment, she was different. Inky black hair, her marking turned the color of blood. Hard, cold eyes. The screeching melody of power dunk voices racked claws over his mind. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>She would never let him pass.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The gun went off like a rabid snarling dog.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The blue was back, but only for a moment as blood trickled down it in vining paths from a black marker between wide glassy eyes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She fell like a stone – just like the rest.</em>
</p><p>He bolted upright, gasping and fighting for air, a hammering in his chest, in his head.  The room was dark, silent, and quickly familiar to him once again. His room. Fingers on his arm, gentle and light but he still flinched, his head whipping around to meet sun color eyes muted with worry. Skylar. Her mark is blue – there’s no red to be seen anywhere.</p><p>“Cayde?” she whispered, her thumb stroking his bare arm. “You were dreaming.” Dreams, nightmares. An endless march of something buried in his head that whispered something he can’t get rid of. Cayde blinked and for a moment there was blood all over her face. Her brows pulled together and she scooted closer, moving her hand to run knuckles along his jaw. “Shh… it’s alright, I’m right here.”</p><p>A keening sound was vibrating through him, one he hadn’t even realized he was making. A shudder ran through him and Skylar moved, placing herself behind him and pulling him against her, between her legs. She was smaller framed than him, but she didn’t seem to notice as her arms wrapped around his bare chest and her chin landed on his shoulder, head tilting into his neck.</p><p>“Sky…”</p><p>“The Crypt again?” She always knew what it was, maybe he gave different ques like she did when she had nightmares. He shivered.</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>Lips against his shoulder planted a kiss.</p><p>“You’ll never hurt me Cayde,” she told him. “I know you won’t, it’s not in your nature. We need each other too much.”</p><p>“But-”</p><p>“Never.”</p><p>Cayde closed his eyes and leaned against her, a hand coming up to cover one of her own as a small vibration trickled through him. A melody started up then, this one so unlike the one from his dream. It was a single voice, calm and smooth, and beautiful. It was her voice. She hummed that tune a lot, a tune he’d never heard before and that even she didn’t know the origin of. Made up? It didn’t matter. It was soothing. It was bone-deep soul healing care for him and him alone. He turned his head down and towards her and listened.</p><p>He remembered the first time he heard it, so long ago, before Tevis died, before Crota. They'd been sitting on the overhang of the tower, side by side as the sun set. A long day of paperwork for him and an even longer week of patrolling for her on Venus. It had been quiet, and then she’d started humming. He didn’t ask, didn’t comment on it, just listened as he gazed out over the city.  He remembered thinking at that moment how much he had taken to caring about her, how much time he spent helping her into who she had become and would become. It had been to satisfy himself at first, or at least he tried to think that, but it had been for her. That smile, that laugh, that sarcastic remark said exactly right. Even her bright, contrasting colors. He’d done it to see those things and so much more, maybe even from the moment, he’d first seen her.</p><p>“Thank you,” he whispered and felt lips, feather-light on his temple.</p><p>“Don’t ever think you need to thank me, not for this, not for you,” she replied.  “I would do this every moment of every day if it helped you, just like you do for me.” Her skin was warm and soft and alive.</p><p>“I love you.” Not enough, never enough, those words were too simple. A dozen words of a similar meaning ran across his mind, but none of them were enough – none. He would spend every moment they had together trying to convey that.</p><p>“I love you too My Comet.” Her forehead against his temple, her nose skimming his cheekbone, her hand under his. The humming continued, soft and peaceful. It banished away the cold dark god and the tower it lived in without any effort at all.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Confessions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>Guardians don’t normally have graves. They're told it’s because most bodies are never found, that it’s more of an honor to let them stay where they made their last stand. Skylar knew it wasn’t that. She knew it was because there weren’t enough places in the city to house all the dead. She knew that if they did, the people they protected would wonder and worry why they fell. It was moral. It was a gentle, quiet lie to keep the appearance of a much larger force than the vanguard really had. </p><p>It wasn’t right, not in her eyes. The Hall of Heroes honors those dead and alive who had left a mark so large in the protection of their home, that they were remembered as such. Skylar and her team were they, as was every vanguard leader past and present, along with names and faces she didn't know. Below the tower, in a beautifully crafted building, those heroes were put to rest. Them and only them.</p><p>It was wrong.</p><p>So she’d made a greave on her own, on the outside of the wall where nothing but trees and mountains could look upon it. Where only those who cared knew about it. Sitting in front of it now, the setting sun of a long, hard day turned the stone a rusty red, darkening the letters carved into it. With a shot glass filled to the brim in one hand, Skylar reached out with the other to run her hands over the words.</p><p>Tevis</p><p>Friend. Teacher. Frontier Master.</p><p>The symbol of the hunter was carved beneath, but she let her hand fall away once they reached the last line of words. When she’d made it, Skylar hadn’t been able to put the word ‘hero’ on it. She’d always seen the man who had taught her how to Blade Dance and track enemies as one, but he’d never liked that word. Not for him, and not for any guardian. She still didn’t know if she agreed with him or not. Knocking back the vodka she swallowed hard and let it burn all the way down.</p><p>“Thought I’d find you out here.” The voice was so familiar, so expected, she didn’t even flinch in surprise at the appearance of it. Instead, she simply took the second of two glasses she’d brought with her and set it next to the one she’d set down, and filled them both with the half empty bottle. Cayde plopped down next to her, one knee raised over a curled in one, and looked at her. “You alright?”</p><p>“Define, ‘alright’?” she said back with a small smile, he just tilted his head, waiting for an answer. A real one. She picked up her glass, holding it between two fingers and a thumb deftly. “I can’t believe it’s been a year, a whole year since we lost him.” In was a numb, chilling thought that twisted her in her chest.</p><p>“Yeah,” his agreement came out on a quiet sigh and from the corner of her eye, she saw him pick up the second glass. “Me too.”</p><p>“I miss him,” she admitted. “I miss him nearly every day.” The feathers on her arm guard, her code name for The Hidden, they were all reminders of that pain, of that loss, but they were also in honor of him. “Ikora said the first one you lose is the worst.”</p><p>“I don’t know about that,” Cayde murmured, his freed hand finding hers as she looked back at him. He wasn’t smiling, but there was a look of comfort in his eyes, in the steady glow there. “I’ve lost a lot of people, seen a lot of death, and I can tell you now they all hurt, but some hurt more than others.” He didn’t have to say their names for her to know them. Ace. Andal. “The best way to deal with that pain is to remember them, the good and the bad. To never forget them, and what they meant to you, what you meant to them.” His thumb brushed over the back of her hand. She gazed into his eyes for a long time, thinking about that, about every moment she’d had with the Night Stalker. Then she looked back at the headstone and sighed.</p><p>“I think there’s something… maybe I need to finally say out loud. Something that I never told you.” The secret she’d kept close to her heart and never really let herself think about. His hand squeezed her own</p><p>“You can tell me anything, Skylar.”</p><p>“I know.” She drank her shot and set the glass down, swallowing slowly. “I told him about how I felt about you a long time before you knew,” she started off. “We were in a bar and one night, I just told him and he got this look on his face like…” she bit her lip, thinking. “Like he was trying to lock something up, and forget about it. Then he just smirked and told me ‘it was about time’ and I let it go because I was tipsy.” The hand under Cayde’s curled, but the exo didn’t say anything, so she went on, her eyes pricking as she blinked. “When I found him in the Black Garden, and he was dying, I promised I wouldn’t leave till he was gone and he looked at me and he… he said his biggest regret was never telling me the truth. Then he just grabbed my hand and gave me his Light before I could even come up with anything to say, ask him what he meant. He was…” she sucked in a deep breath. “He was just gone in the next moment.” She shook her head. “I think… I still don’t know what to think about that and I hesitate to let myself think what I know is probably true.” He’d been her friend, her teacher her family, and yet…</p><p>The silence that followed wasn't tense, but Skylar didn't know how to break it.</p><p>“Yeah,” Cayde said finally, and startled, she looked back over to her boyfriend. His glass was empty, and he set it down next to hers and poured another round. “I know.”</p><p>“I…what?”</p><p>“The night of the poker game, when you kissed me, he saw the whole thing.” His words were quiet, but Skylar still flinched. “He told me I was an idiot and that if I didn’t get my act together you might ‘find someone else’. When I asked him what he meant by that, he just shrugged and left without answering. For a long time, I thought he did it to just egg me on, but I look back on it and something about the look in his eyes… it was more than just a dare, he was serious.” He met her gaze again and lifted one hinge. “I think he cared about you more than either of us ever realized. Not that I can really blame him but…”</p><p>In another life, another time, another place, would things have turned out differently? Skylar wondered that as she looked back at the grave that held no body, just pieces of a ghost, a torn cloak, and a name. Was it possible she could have ended up with a different hunter? Skylar had never seen him that way, Tevis had always just been another one of the guys: cherished but not in that way. She wondered how much that had hurt him, that night in the bar.</p><p>Closing her eyes she let the tears that stung them fall before she grabbed the bottle and filled the other glass. Glancing at Cayde she picked up two of them and then stood, taking the step to stand right in front of the grave. After a moment, she set one glass down on the top of it and rested her hand next to it. Movement next to her pricked her sense and then Cayde was standing next to her again, glass in hand.</p><p>“I’m greatful,” he told her, and she turned her head to look at him. Using his free hand, he wiped at a trailing tear. “Grateful every day to that asshole for doing what he did, despite his own feelings. He made me make the best decision of my life, and he gave you a gift that saved yours.” If Tevis hadn’t given her Shadow Shot, if he hadn’t insisted that she leave him there, Skylar might have died in that place along with him. It was the only gift, and the only truth he could give her.</p><p>“Me too,” she agreed and held her hand out towards Cayde, the one with the shot glass in it. He clinked his against in instantly and Skylar stared at the glass, remember how Tevis would ruffle her hair and call her ‘Little Falcon’ and how that teasing nickname had become an endearment she’d never caught on to. She took in a deep breath and finally smiled slightly, thanking him for standing by her and showing her a way to happiness when he could have just as easily let things fall apart after she told him the truth. “Me too.”</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Secret Admirer</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A day in the life of Z the Red Wolf.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“…anyway, I have this amazing idea,” Z spoke with enthusiasm as he walked towards the commons area of the tower, having just come back from a mission. His helmet was gone, but that didn’t stop him from speaking to a friend via ghost chat as he went, not giving a damn if anyone overheard. Let them hear – one day he would be recognized for what he is: a visionary.</p><p>“Oh? What’s up?” Marcus Ren, a fellow inventor asked curiously.</p><p>“Picture this,” he started off, reaching up and toying with the earing on his left ear absently. “Trip mine knives. Hit the target in the shoulder, head blows off entirely.”  It was brilliant – Skylar might have looked at him with concern and Haar might have started laughing, but he would show them it could be done. “I just have to figure out how to combine them just so.”</p><p>Marcus laughed. “Sounds like a good plan, I’m currently working on a new set of hunter boots that will work even better than those ones covered in Ahamkara bones. Should be pretty useful once I work out the kinks.”</p><p>“Yeah?” Turning the corner, Z finally spotted the sunlight into the courtyard. “How many times have you fallen to your death so far?”</p><p>“Not as many times as you’re going to blow yourself up with this new project.”</p><p>“Wanna bet on that?”</p><p>“Deal. We’ll have our ghost keep track.”</p><p>Z opened his mouth to reply with another wisecrack as he looked around the area and he spotted something rather interesting. Cayde was speaking to a female hunter off to the side near some boxes. Speaking, was a term for it anyway. The woman – awoken, her gear rather busted up, probably new – was wringing her hands, a blushing blush on her face. The exo, comically enough looked both flattered and uncomfortable as he rubbed at the back of his neck.</p><p>“Oh, you’ve got to be shitting me,” Z mused, a grin spreading across his face.</p><p>“What?” Marcus asked and Z looked to his ghost, Sparks, remembering he was talking to his friend a moment before.</p><p>“Nothing. Look I’ve got to go. I’ll ping you later.”</p><p>A moment of hesitation.</p><p>“...Alright. Good luck with your knives. Don’t blow up you’re room again.”</p><p>“That only happened once, and now no one will ever let me forget it!” he scowled at his ghost who just blinked at him, used to it.</p><p>“Ha. Later bud.”</p><p>The small red light on a fin of his ghost went out and Z grumbled under his breath, scratching his stubbled jaw as he returned his gaze to Cayde… who still looked like he needed to find a way out of all of this. Tilting his head the explosives expert decided to help a guy out as the girl had gone from looking down at her feet to managing some eye contact. Making his way over without any urgency, he raised a hand to his class leader as he came up behind the female hunter.</p><p>“Hey Cayde,” he quirked a smile when the newbie jumped and spun around and met his gaze with a glowing green one. The exo blinked at him and then quickly shifted his stance forward again since he’d been leaning back ever so slightly.</p><p>“What’s up Z?”</p><p>“Just got off a comlink with Skylar,” he lied seamlessly, eyes darting to the awoken and then back to Cayde. “She got hung up on the moon, asked me to tell you she’s going to be a little later for dinner tonight.”</p><p>Three blinks, and then the widening of eyes and Cayde understood as the female between them got a bewildered look on her face.</p><p>“She could have just called me,” Cayde said with a sigh. Z Shrugged.</p><p>“You know she doesn’t like bothering you at work.”</p><p>“Hey, I told her she <em>should</em> interrupt me. Could use a distraction every once in a while from endless papers and datapads. ”</p><p>“Um,” The awoken spoke up, brows pulling together. “Are you talking about someone I should know?” Bingo. Z tilted his head and smiled wider.</p><p>“You’ll hear about her soon enough. Skylar the Phantom. She’s on my fireteam, we’re kind of big shots around here.” He winked for goods measure. “She’s also Cayde’s girlfriend.” Z goes for causally informative, but it doesn’t stop the sudden paleness that comes over her face. “You alright?” he questioned.</p><p>“…Yeah,” she said slowly. “I should probably get going… it was nice to meet you,” she looked from Z to Cayde with a small smile and then quickly walked around the boxes and headed out of the area at a moderately quick pace. Once she was gone Cayde relaxed instantly, shoulders dropping as Z gave a small laugh.</p><p>“Hard belonging to a single woman, huh?” His tease has his boss huffing at him, brow plate raising with a knowing look.</p><p>“I think you're the one missing out ladies man. I don’t need anyone else but Skylar to be happy. In and out of bed.”</p><p> Z cringed. “I really don’t want to hear about my best friend’s sex life Cayde…”</p><p>They stared at each other for a long moment and then suddenly started laughing again. Okay, maybe Z was a little curious about it, but asking sky was out of the question. He didn’t need another knife in his head anytime soon.</p><p>“You owe me,” he said finally to his boss, once things had quietly. Cayde waved a hand.</p><p>“Fine, I guess I do. Drinks work?”</p><p>Z Smirked. “It’s a good start.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Keep in mind that this takes place before D2 and thus exploding knives weren't a thing yet... who knows maybe Z made them ;)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Together</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Just some patroling. Really short... Sorry for any typos, due to it being a day prompt I can't get it betaed.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sniper rifle goes off with a muffled bang, the silencer on it keeping Skylar from having to worry about being found quiet as easily, the P&amp;T cloaking her as a bullet ripped through a Fallen’s brain.  A fallen mind you that had been sneaking up on an exo who was currently duking it out with a captain. She waited till the enemy went down and she saw through the scope that cocky ass spin of the Ace of Spades, before clicking her ghost coms in.</p><p>“You really need to watch your six a bit better Cayde,” she teased and saw him look in her direction.</p><p>“Naw, I just knew you had my six, so I didn’t need to.” His canted voice made her almost see the wink that was too far off even with a scope. Her lips twitched up anyway and quickly moving her gun and fired at a servitor that had floated into view. It buzzed, sending sparks everywhere, and then a trip mine landed dead center on it. It pulsed one before igniting and blowing the poor thing up before it could recover. “See what I mean? Best team ever.”</p><p>Skylar snorted a laugh and shook her head.</p><p>“Of course, we are.” Focusing her scope away from him, she looked up the snowy hill of the cosmodrome. “Another squad on your eight,” she told him and Cayde spun on a foot and hurried off instantly.  Watching him, Skylar couldn’t help but find a sense of happiness in it. He was so free out there, and even if it didn’t happen often, she was glad she could have him tag along during off-hours as a team. It wasn’t what a normal couple would do, but as guardians… it seemed like it fit.</p><p>The first time they were out on the field together, Cayde had been teaching her how to shoot a sniper and at the time… she’d been less than good. He told her it was the shooter that mattered, but she’d never thought she’d be much good at it. Looking back on that, she wondered how she’d gone from there, to being her clan’s best sniper. It was her place, her moment of glory on the battlefield when she popped the head off an enemy with a .50 cal. That was over four years ago now.</p><p>“Hey Sky! Could use some help!” Cayde’s voice shop through their open com. She blinked, startled out of her daydream, and refocused her eye through the scope. Firing off three consecutive rounds into a shielded captain, she killed it and moved to the other one Cayde was dodging while dealing with a group of shanks.</p><p>“I got ya,” she mused, popping another shield and then another rebreather. The light of a golden gun lit up through her scope as Cayde jumped back and then obliterated the mob of robots. at the smoke and falling snow cleared, he was left with a field of bodies. A true sharpshooter who left none standing... with just a little help from her. He chuckled, slightly out of breath.</p><p>“Okay, maybe I do need to watch my six a bit better,” he relented teasingly and Skylar scowled before he went on. “Just messing with you Skyla. I think that’s good for now. Let’s go find a tree somewhere and take a break.”</p><p>She couldn’t help but agree after two hours. She stood up from her prone position and leaned back to pop it and let out a relieved sigh.</p><p>“Sounds good.”</p><p>“See you in a few then.”</p><p>Skylar paused for a moment, before lifting her rifle once more to her eye and watched over him as he boarded his sparrow and boosted off. She’d always have his six - just in case.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Table for Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pillow talk is the best.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is late, but things happened and yeah... enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first thing she registers in her hazy, sleep-filled mind, is the familiar feeling of fingers dragging through her hair. Warm, metallic fingers. The second thing she realizes is that while her legs are on the soft bed she knows she in, her torso and head aren’t. Instead, it’s pillowed against an equally warm and firm surface that is slowly rising and falling. She makes a half groaned hum, eyes peeling open to a dark room, the only light coming from the cracks around blinds pulled over a door and a window. That and the ever glowing blue eyes that are lazily staring at her. Cayde lifted a hinge in a half-smile, looking a bit sorry for waking her, but the hand in her hair didn’t stop moving and she sighed, closing her eyes again.</p><p>“What time is it?”</p><p>“Late enough that we should get up, but not late enough that we have to,” he responded a smile in his voice.</p><p>“Cayde…”</p><p>He chuckled.</p><p>“10:13 in the morning,” he relented, and Skylar had to agree with his description: they probably <em>should</em> get up, but they didn’t<em> have to</em>, not yet. Still, she took in a deep breath and opened her eyes again, drawing a lazy finger over the teal and silver chest plating and dipping into the tan silicon mess between them. The exo hummed, approving the gesture. “You can go back to sleep if you want Skyla.” It’s a tempting offer but she shook her head, her fingers still wondering in random designs across his bare form.</p><p>“How did I even get in this position?” she asked, remembering that yes, she’d been curled up facing him after a rather intense session of lovemaking, but normally they ended up separated by morning. The hand in her hair swept down her neck to rest there.</p><p>“You were shivering a few hours ago, so I moved you. Didn’t know hunters could be so dead to the world – I’ll take that as a compliment for my work last night.”</p><p>Skylar huffed, and then pushed herself up onto her forearms on him. Moving to hover over his head with an eye raised. “Well, I suppose it’s only fair since normally it’s you still in bed the next morning.” She dipped her head to nuzzle the side of his horn with her nose. The hand that wasn’t on her neck, found its way to her hip and squeezed.</p><p>“Keep talking like that and neither of us will be leaving the bed anytime soon… not that it would be a bad thing.” He quirked a smile and she laughed, leaning further down and kissing him softly. He got the message – no fun, at least not for the time being – and settled for simply biting her lips gently in return. Pulling back, Skylar finally sat up, the covers pooling around her waist as she scratched her head, her other hand thumbing his jawline before letting it fall away.</p><p>“I’ll go see about breakfast,” she told him and he hummed in delight.</p><p>“I knew there was a reason I loved you,” he teased, and she rolled her eyes, unable to stop the smile. Slipping from bed, she grabbed her underwear and then his hoodie, pulling them on. She was quite aware of him watching her as she tugged the hem down over her hips and then swayed those hips just a bit more than needed as she let the room. She heard a frustrated groan behind her and her smile turned into a grin as she padded into the half kitchen. Seeing as exos tended to have a bit of a mild sense of taste – meaning it had to be a bolder flavor for it to taste normal to them – Skylar had begun the habit of try to be the one that always cooked when she spent the night at his place. It was sweet when he surprised her with something… it also just ended up being a bit salty. This way she could cook the food normally and then After she dished her helping out, add more to it. if it left her wanting a glass of water, it was perfect.</p><p>As she clicked on the coffee maker for him and the hot pot for her tea water, Skylar turned to the shelves where dishes were kept. Taking out two mugs and two plates, she set them on the table adjacent to each other, pausing for a moment to enjoy the sight. Mornings like these – quiet and soothing – were rare and the hunter made sure she revealed in every moment – even breakfast.</p><p>As she'd discovered early on: it was the little things that meant the most.   </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Love Letter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cayde leaves Skylar a message to hear later.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Super short but... it's sweet anyway :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey, Sky. I know you won’t be able to listen to this for a while seeing as you're on silent coms for you’re mission but…” Cayed trailed off for a moment, thinking as he sat in their stop on the overhang in the tower. The place they always stargaze and just talked. The place they made the decision to be together. He loved this spot. “I just miss you. We both knew when you left it was at least a month-long thing… where ever you went. Damn it… I wish you would have at least told me where. Ikora just keeps telling me you’ll be fine and I <em>know</em> you’ll be fine. You’re a badass. You've Slain gods. You've done all sorts of things that make you a hero. It doesn’t stop the worry about you though, you know?” He ran a hand over his face. “Doesn’t stop how lonely I feel when you’re not here. I wonder if it’s the same for you?” Traveler, he was lonely. Three weeks in and he found himself staring at the entrance to the Vanguard room instead of doing work. Ikora thought it was cute, Zavala had thought so too for the first day, then he just got annoyed.</p><p>He’d known these days were coming when they'd gotten together, so really Cayde couldn’t complain. Skylar was a hunter and they weren’t in the tower that often, they were always off in the wilderness. It’s what he’d always been doing, it’s what she loved doing. Exploring the world. Being in the Hidden made it even worse because at least before he’d known where she was and he could talk to her. Despite the assurances, he gave her he still had spiraling thoughts that something would happen to her and he’d never know what. She’d just… never come back. He wasn't sure what he would do if that ever happened. If he never got to say good-bye. Shaking his head, he cleared his throat. this wasn't the time to be so downtrodden.</p><p>“Do you remember a few nights before you left we were in the shower and... well… we were there a long time, and afterward you just pressed your face into my neck and said you wanted to get say there a while. So I held you close and even though we didn't say anything it was, well not better than the sex but just as good I think. We stayed like that till the water was cold and I think maybe... maybe you knew you were leaving for a while. You couldn’t tell me till the day before because you know I get anxious when I know. It reminded me of how well you know me, and how above everything else, that I love holding you the most.” it was the first real thing they did as a couple. Not kissing, not slept together, he'd just held her for a few hours the night of the Dawning after they'd danced for a long time. </p><p>Looking up at the stars, he thought about how earlier today his arms had ached for no reason – no physical reason anyway. Even his body missed her. Glancing up at the sky, he measured how high the moon was in relation to the time and sighed.</p><p>“I should get going. Just… be careful okay Skyla? Be careful and know I love you, more than anything. I’ll be right here for you when you finish. I’m you’re comet, right? So, I’ll be here so you have a way home.”</p><p>When the com clicked off Cayde continued to look at the stars for a long time that night, wondering if Skylar was looking at them too.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Friendship</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Skylar recalls how she met her friends.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skylar could remember every single event that had led to her meeting each friend. She never forgot anything. Everything she’d ever seen: every nightmare, every kiss, every wound she’d ever gotten. Every single one. She tried to remember the good things the best, the things that had made her who she was now.</p><p>Winter turned out to be her bathroom sharing neighbor. The older awoken had commented that she’d never had a roommate and offered to show her around. It’s not till much later that Skylar found out Winter had been lying and that she had a roommate before her, the last person to use Skylar’s room. The titan had died horribly, and Winter had only wanted to spare her the uneasiness such information would cause to an already uneasy and scared newly risen. Skylar was mad at her for a while, but she soon forgave her, knowing she’d meant well.   </p><p>She met Z a week later while Cayde was trying to teach her how to ride a sparrow, but as luck would have it, even with one of the best SLR racers as her teacher, Skylar still crashed her ride the first time she road it. Only she crashed it right into Z who had been too busy fooling with a trip mine to notice till it was too late. They both blew up and after a quick ghost reset and a look of hesitation at each other, Z had started laughing, and soon Skylar had joined in. Behind them, they’d both heard Cayde laughing, and just out of spite, Z had chucked a mine at the exo as well. It missed. Cayde’s didn’t.</p><p>About two months into her life as a guardian while running a patrol on Earth, she met Haar-2. Even with her steel-trap memory and her ghost Sterling, Skylar still managed to get lost among the confusing underground tunnels of Russia. Haar had lifted his brow late in surprise and then patted her shoulder. He didn’t tease her about being a hunter with no sense of direction, he just helped her finish the mission and led her back to the surface. As a thank you, Skylar offered to buy him a drink, and it wasn’t till later that she’d find out Haar and Z were already friends.</p><p>Cayde introduced her to both Tevis and Shiro when he dragged her to a poker game only a few days after claiming her as his rookie. Shiro had been kind and friendly, offering up his ghost com number before the night had been over. Tevis had taken one look at her and then asked if Cayde was doing a decent time of showing her how to Blade Dance. Skylar had bit her lip and looked away. Tevis snorted, glanced at his friend, and then promptly told his class leader he’d take over that part of her training. Cayde had scowled, annoyed, but relented quickly, stating that yes, Tevis would be a better teacher for her verity of Light. She was friends with both men by the end of the night.</p><p>Noble, or Perkins as he was often called, lived five doors down from her own, but it took months before she met him. He’d left his door open and the first thing Skylar had seen was a huge poster of Lord Shaxx and the crucible. She’d lingered too long and almost got bashed by the door as Noble had walked out. Instead, she ended up on her butt and gave him an embarrassed smile, feeling a bit small under the gaze of a much larger titan. His helmet had already been on, but after a moment he’d tilted his head and offered a hand out to her, asking if she was alright.</p><p>Meeting Corvan wasn’t very pleasant. Meeting Will-7 was a bit better. She’d ended up filling in for a third guardian they normally ran with. Corvan was a good shot and a good leader, but he was also unimpressed with her and her skills. Will spent the time telling her he wasn’t that bad as he gave her tips and tricks against the Hive.</p><p>She didn’t meet Cassidy for over a year even though Shiro had often talked about his beloved girlfriend. The awoken titan had been kind and spunk, easily able to dominate over the Exo, but often never did. She promptly asked Skylar if she wanted to go shopping after seeing the lack of none combat gear in her closet. Shiro had laughed at her disgruntled face and told the redhead in a whisper: “She means well.”</p><p>Around three years after she’d been brought back, Cayde told her when she was going to meet Tristan. He was supposed to meet the young hunter in a restaurant and because he could, Cayde brought her along. They hadn’t even sat down at the table before the hunter had won a bet about when Cayde would arrive. He said he wasn’t social, but he clearly liked to gamble.</p><p>And of course, She met Cayde, on the first day to the tower after spending five long days in the Rocky Mountains looking for a way to travel. She’d been fuming over an arm guard that refused to latch until it swiftly gave her the middle finger and fell to the ground. The first thing she heard from him was his laughter and the first thing she saw of him were those comet-colored eyes and a lazy, one hinged smile.  She’d know from the moment she’d met him that something had clicked into place, Skylar just hadn’t known what at the time.</p><p>She remembered each and every one of them and Skylar wouldn’t trade a single one of them for something else. They were her goofy, mood, kind friends and they’d taught her everything she knew. She founded a clan with them. They were family.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Date</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sometimes, even Guardians dress up.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cayde pulled slightly at the cuff of his black dress jacket, not uncomfortable, but almost as if he couldn’t believe he was wearing it. A year ago, Cayde would have laughed at the idea of dressing in anything but his armor or his off-duty comfy clothes. He hadn’t even owned a set of nice clothes – why bother, it wasn’t like he had any place to wear them? Except, now he did. Skylar had always been good about letting him dress how he wanted to, never commenting on anything except that he was handsome no matter what. But on location, he could see her wanting to be a – dare he think it – girl. Cassidy was rubbing off on her, or maybe the idea of dressing differently made her feel like she could escape the life they lived.</p><p>Cayde decided it did them both some good to try being normal people every once in a while. So, he’d bought nicer clothes for different events like when they went dancing or, in this case when she’s been gone for over a month and he’d had enough free time to get a reservation as a nice place to eat. Not Cayde’s normal stick, but he’d do just about anything for his girl, she didn’t even have to ask. One more tug on his sleeve to make sure his coat covered the cuff of his blue shirt and then he knocked on her door.</p><p>After a few moments it opened to his favorite bright-haired hunter and he quickly froze cold in place at the rest of her. The dress was black, one-shouldered and barely reached her knees. Around her neck hung the necklace he’d given her that she never took off and, on her feet were sleek black heels that looked oddly wrong and oh-so-right on her at the same time. Cayde was pretty sure a circuit blew somewhere in his brain. She smiled at him, apparently enjoying his dumbfounded expression, and reached out to run her hand over the edge of his jacket.</p><p>“You look nice,” she mused and that finally restarted his thoughts and he grabbed her hand and brought it to his mouth where he pressed his mouth plates to the worn knuckles there. He flicked his eyes up to hers and smiled.</p><p>“I wasn’t aware I could find you more attractive – clearly I was wrong. You are stunning Skyla.” That word didn’t seem good enough, but it was all he could come up with. He lowered their hands but didn’t let go of hers and she laughed quietly and stepped out of her room shutting the door. Closing the distance she pressed a kiss to his cheek and then tugged him towards the elevator. Tightening his hand around hers he followed her, they did need to get going if they were going to be on time.</p><p>“so,” she said casually. “How many weapons did you manage to bring with you?” Never let it be said that Skylar didn’t know him well.</p><p>“Just the one.” He patted his hip with a free hand. He never went anywhere without his gun. Glancing up and down the length of her he raised his brow place. “How about you?” His question got a playful curl of her lips.</p><p>“Oh, one or two.” Knives to doubt, probably hidden on her thighs under the skirt.  She never left home without them either. He finds himself looking forwards to finding out for sure later, letting his eyes wander as they waited for the elevator.  She dropped their hands and tapped the side of his horn to get his attention as she smirked at him. “Don’t get ahead of yourself now.” She murmured, leaning closer – and then abruptly pulled back as he tried to kiss her as the elevator opened. Cayde swallowed hard, trying to ignore the heat that had shot right down his systems.</p><p>Traveler, it would be an act of god to keep from doing something scandalous in public. He couldn’t wait to get her back to his courters. She leaned up against the bar at the back of the elevator and raised an eyebrow. Cayde hummed, entering it as well and pushing the button for the ground floor.</p><p>He supposed in the meantime, the elevator ride would have to do.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Solo</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Haar-2 reflects on his long Life as a Guardian.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Haar-2 had always been a titan among hunters since the early days of the City. It wasn’t as if he didn’t get along with his own factions – through quite a few got on his nerves – it was just that somehow, in the last hundred or so years he’d started befriending the normally loner class of the three. Not that the two he held closest these days were much of loners, thought Skylar did have a lot of solo missions for The Hidden he was told. The exo himself had been quite the loner for a long time. When he’d first been brought back during the Dark Age, he’d wondered around Germany for a long time before settling with a group of humans and one other Light barer for a few years. It wasn’t till he met up with Saint-14 and Osiris, that he truly felt like he’d found a place he belonged, but had a hard time finding common ground with both of them at times. Even more so after the city was built.</p><p>After the events of the Twilight Gap and then both of his friends disappearing though, Haar suddenly found himself mostly alone again except for the few friends he had on the outer circle of his life. He took to cartography work outside of the city after that, using data hunters brought back to make maps for the vanguard to use. Which is how he ended up befriending more hunters than anyone else. He looked back on that time as his own way of grieving and healing, and by the time that had passed…</p><p>“Earth to Boom-Head. Haar, you with us?”  Z’s voice snapped the titan from his daze, bringing him back to the here and now of the current mission on Mars. He blinked a few times, before stepping back from the too close for comfort hunter who was probably grinning behind his helmet. “Going Senile on us are you?” he teased. Skylar who was behind the other hunter posted up on a piece of building, lowered her rifle to look at them both.</p><p>“Oh, knock it off Z,” she grumbled looking to Haar. “You alright?”</p><p>Often time, Haar found himself comparing his two teammates. Both hunters. Both wild cards, but very different. Z, who he’d met only a year after the man had been revived over 150 years ago was a crazy bastard with a love for explosions the boarded on worrisome. The man had a good heart though, even if his temper for short-fused and his ghost had no probably throwing him under the bus. He was entertaining, to say the least. Skylar, who was only four years into her second life was sarcastic and kind and ten times more mature than her best friend and her boyfriend. Haar supposed that was why they worked well together. If it weren’t for her zero sense of direction and tendency to put her life in more danger than needed, she would have been the perfect hunter.</p><p>Thankfully, the exo was always there to pull his two hunters out of the flames of their own havoc when need be.   </p><p>“I’m fine,” he answered with a wave of the hand. “Just thinking about the old days.”</p><p>“Bah,” Z scoffed. “Stop dwelling on that, you’re here now right? You have us.” He gestured to himself and Skylar who titled her head. “What else could a guy need?”</p><p>What else indeed.</p><p>They were no Saint and Osiris, but he had a great deal more in common with them than he did with most titans. Haar liked heights, liked bending the rules and, he liked to explore. The closest thing to a hunter a titan could be, Cayde was always saying. The two hunters made him feel needed, feel like he had a place to come back to at the tower. He no longer needed those long months away making maps, instead, he took days and then came back. Because really, if he wasn’t there to watch his friends on missions, to be their shield, he wasn’t quite sure they’d ever make it home in one piece.</p><p>“Right,” he answered, before taking a step in the red sand towards the tall shadow of buildings their mission had pointed them to. “Let’s head out.”</p><p>Skylar hummed and hopped down. “Time for another adventure from Fireteam Silent Wings?”  she mused, while Z whooped in the background. Haar chuckled and patted her shoulder as he passed her.</p><p>Team. Not one man. He had a family that never let him be for long. </p><p>“Let the fun begin.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Hearts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Skylar breaks the 4th wall just a tiny bit while she's on the moon. Also known as me bringing destiny jokes into the story.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skylar knew her prized guns like the back of her own hand. The Patients and Time Rifle was a.50 cal, arc-infused killer that cloaked her so she could get that perfect shot. It was straightforward if she was being honest with herself. Her other gun, on the other hand, wasn’t quite so simple. Then again, since when did Cayde – or any hunter for that matter – ever make anything simple?</p><p>Out on the surface of the moon, Skylar sent off a cacophony of hammer ignited bullets, tilt all five thrall laid dead feet from her. Turning without pause she came face to ugly ass face, times two. Jumping backward, She aimed and fired two shots – one to each knight’s chest.</p><p>“Sorry guys, but you challenged me together,” she mused, watching as their chest lit up into flames, an arch of solar energy connecting the two as they screamed in agony before falling to the ground in a burning heap. “It’s only fair you died together as well.”  She reloaded her Fated Hearts and then stowed it, walking up the hill to figure out where her patrol partner had wandered off too. The wind ripped at her cloak as she reached the top, and easily found Tristan Fenrir standing there, apparently watching her from his little perch where he sat on a half-buried stack of crates. His helmet – which looked a lot like the open maw of a wolf – tilted in a nod as she neared. His hood had blown off at some point, apparently not to his knowledge as Skylar tugged on her own hood in a silent comment and he cursed grabbing it and pulling the thing back into place.</p><p>She laughed, and her younger clan mate huffed. Somehow, in the last half year since she met him and he’d joined the clan, she’d taken to giving him tips as a fellow Blade Dancer tricks. With her teacher gone… well, she owed it to Tevis to pass on his teachings.</p><p>“Have I ever mentioned how overpowered that damn gun of yours is? I mean it’s badass, but where the fuck did Cayde even find parts that let it do that?” Tristan said, pointing back down the hill to the burning bodies. Skylar rolled her eyes</p><p>“Says the guy with a gun that randomly shoots bullets that do cataclysmic amounts of damage every few rounds.”</p><p>“Hey, I didn’t make the thing – I found it. Yours is another story.”</p><p>Skylar shrugged her shoulders, sitting down on another box next to his. “I mean it was built from the pieces of my Fate Bringer. That thing causes near trip mine force explosions, and he used pieces he’d set aside for Ace just in case.”</p><p>“Those parts don’t look anything like his gun,” Tristan said flatly. “He probably just didn’t want you knowing his secret. Crafty bastard.”</p><p>Skylar hummed, amused. “Maybe, but honestly, I’ve given up on trying to figure out why Light does different things to different weapons and armor. You know what my answer to all of it is?”</p><p>“No…?” he sounded a bit exasperated and Skylar grinned behind her helmet and then raised a hand, palm up, and made a sweeping motion.</p><p>“Space Magic.”</p><p>“…Space Magic?” he said slowly, trying to figure out if she was joking. She nodded her head.</p><p>“Yep. How did we come back from the dead? Space Magic. Why does my chest plate regenerate my Light faster than it should be able to? Space magic. Why can’t Shaxx sit down properly? Sp-”</p><p>“Hey now,” Tristan cut in, his voice betraying the grin that was forming. “We both know Ikora did that to him a-”</p><p>“And she used Space Magic,” she went on, laughing and this time, her friend joined in.</p><p>“Okay, okay, maybe you’ve got a point.” He turned his Hawkmoon from side to side in his lap, looking it over. “I guess it’s more fun to just enjoy it than worry about something that doesn’t really matter.”</p><p>“I mean…if you really want to talk guns in that fine of detail, I’m sure Haar would love to help you with that.” Which of course meant hours of the Exo cheerfully talking the young scout’s ear off. His shoulders twitched and he tilted his head back to look up at the sky.</p><p>“Yeah… I think I’m good.”</p><p>“Thought so.”</p><p>They stayed silent for a bit and Skylar took the time to clean her gun, her finger passing lovingly over the ornate heart stamped on the chamber – the side of it being the one that sent the double killing round out into the open. Tristan fooled with his own gun as well, and after about five minutes, she stood back up and sighed.</p><p>“Come on, lets finish this so we can head back. Z promised me as many drinks as I want for losing the bet yesterday. She quirked her lips up in a smirk that was hidden behind her helmet, but Tristan still leaned away slightly in a weary fashion.</p><p>“And that,” he said frankly. “Is why when I bet against you, I always make sure the reward isn’t anything eatable.” True. The guy loved his bets – had ever since she’d first met him, during dinner with Cayde and found Tristan betting on the Exo’s own arrival time for said meal.</p><p>“Come on,” she repeated and tapped the muzzle of her gun against his in a fashion that meant good luck and comradery. She switched the gun from one hand to the other after that before turning and heading towards the Hell Mouth. “If you hurry I’ll get a drink for you too!” She heard footsteps in the dirt behind her.</p><p>“You better mean that!”</p><p>She let out another small laugh. “Let's see who wins at the kill count shall we?”</p><p>“Oh, you are so on!”</p><p>In the end, they both lost counts entirely.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Bouquet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Skylar asks Cayde an unexpected question.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>One of the things Skylar loved about being a Hidden agent was that it often took her to places she wouldn’t normally go. True, hunters were always off in the wilds, but normally it was into areas where enemies had been spotted, or somewhere near that. Those of the Hidden were sent to places left abandoned by time all over the solar system. Today, Skylar was on Earth, South American, in a country once known as Spain. The quaint town edged the beautiful green-blue sea, and the sky was nearly cloudless. In the midday sun, Skylar imagined what the slowly crumbling buildings and roads with vegetation growing out of them had once looked. Tall, boxy white homes and shops, long elegant bridges, and cobblestone walkways. She ran a gloved hand over the remains of a fence the lead down a pathway to a building, the gold top half worn away. It seemed to be some kind of hotel? The huge building was in poor shape and Skylar walked around it slowly, always keeping her hand near her gun.</p><p>There was a beep suddenly in her HUD and moments later Sterling flashing into sight, his green eye pulsing. “Coms call from Cayde,” he informed the hunter. Her lips twitched behind her helmet and she nodded in consent and a moment later static rumbled over an open link before a voice overcame it.</p><p>“Hello? Skylar?”</p><p>She sighed slightly.</p><p>“You’re not supposed to call me when I’m on a mission Cayde,” she scolded half heartily.</p><p>“I know…” he grumbled. “But I figured you just wouldn’t pick up if you were busy, either that or Sterling wouldn’t let the call come through at all. You in a safe area?”</p><p>“Relatively,” she informed him, turning a corner through a row of large trees with drooping vine-like limbs that almost formed curtains.  The backyard was filled with what looked like white benches. Some of them were knocked over or broken, but they appeared to have stood in rows, only open up in the middle by a cracked and broken walkway that lead up to a fallen over white arch. “I’m in a deserted coastal city.”</p><p>“Yeah? What’s it like?”</p><p>“The ocean is different, brighter. Almost the color of arc energy.” <em>The color of his eyes</em>. As she talked, she walked forward down the middle pathway towards the arch. As she got closer she noticed a podium behind it, also knocked over, half dead vines covering both fixtures. “This place must have been beautiful at one point.”</p><p>“A lot of the world is that way. I think that’s what I hate the most about the collapses. The loss of culture and beauty.”</p><p>“How romantic of you,” Skylar teased, standing in front of where the arch had once been, the remains of a red carpet tattered and eaten away laid crumpled. Sitting forgotten near the middle was a bundle of something… plants? She crouched, picking it up, the end of it easily fitting in her hand as she got a closer look. Flowers, she realized, fake ones at that, made of plastic and fabric. Maybe a display item. She knew what it was supposed to be of course, which lead her to the answer what all of this was.</p><p>A wedding set up.</p><p>“Well, you know I’m a sucker for it – our little secret right?” he liked to pretend people thought he was just a badass, that they didn’t know he like all that fluffy cuddling stuff. Truth was, he loved cuddling. She twisted the fake flowers in her hand.</p><p>“Hey Cayde?”</p><p>“Hm?” surprise lit his voice as her sudden change in topic and tone?</p><p>“I… Why haven’t I ever seen or heard of Guardians getting married?” she asked suddenly, realizing that no, she hadn’t seen something like this before, not for the Traveler’s children. Once, down in the city, she’d seen a party for a pair of humans but…</p><p>Cayde took a long moment to reply, maybe shocked she asked, but when he did answer his voice was calm.</p><p>“It’s not like it’s not allowed or anything,” he started off. “I guess most of us just don’t bother or… I don’t know. Its something we aren’t supposed to do? We’re soldiers after all. Plus, when people think of marriage, they think of families. Guardians are sterile Sky, a lot of us don’t want the reminder, so even if they love someone, they avoid the topic entirely.”</p><p>“That seems… wrong.” Weren’t they allowed to have the same happiness as everyone else as long as they did their job? She knew they couldn’t have children, they’d been brought back from the dead and got revived constantly. Something that had been dead, didn’t get to create life.</p><p>“It does happen, Skylar,” Cayde assured her. “It’s just normally done quietly.” There’s a long pause as Skylar walked over to a bench and sat down. “Why?” the exo finally asked.</p><p>“Just wondering… I think I found the remains of one.” She spun the Bouquet in her hands. She wondered if she’d been married before she died. She wondered if Cayde had been. She found herself unwilling to ask him.</p><p>“I see,” her boyfriend mused, his voice lightening. “So… do you want to marry me or something?” he purred out. “I mean I am quite the catch, but this seems rather fast Sky, I don’t know what to say.”</p><p>Her face heated and she nearly crushed the flowers. “Cayde! I just- I’m… knock it off. You know that’s not what I meant!”</p><p>“So, you don’t want to marry me? Ouch…”</p><p>“Cayde!”</p><p>The Exo laughed. “Sorry, sorry.” No, he wasn’t. She huffed and tilted her head back to look up at the sky. “You know… I don’t think it’d be such a bad thing though,” he said suddenly. Her heart leaped in her chest at the admission, and she smiled. “Maybe someday.”</p><p>She set the flowers down on the bench next to her. It was a nice dream. “Yeah. Maybe someday.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Dove</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Someone went looking into files they weren't allowed to...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>ACCESSING DATABASE</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Hidden Archive Files – Clans – Hidden Wings</em>
</p><p>Fireteam Hidden Wings was founded by a group of Guardians that wanted to build a haven together. If you asked any of the original five: Skylar, Haar, Z, Corvan, Noble, and Will-7, they’d all have their own slight variations for agreeing to make the clan a reality. There were only two rules that one had to follow if they became a member: Your clan is your home and your family, abuse and betrayal of any members will not be shown mercy, and your guardian symbol had to have something to do with something that had wings. The records of these identifications of members and unofficial members are as follows:</p><p>
  <strong>Official Members:</strong>
</p><p>Skylar the Phantom: Peregrine Falcon</p><p>Z The Red Wolf: Red-tailed Hawk</p><p>Winter: Snowy Owl</p><p>Haar-2: Wyvern</p><p>Corvan: Crow</p><p>Will-7: Bat</p><p>Noble: Golden Eagle</p><p>Cassidy: Dove</p><p>Tristan Fenrir: Pterolycus (‘Dragon Wolf’)</p><p>
  <strong>Unofficial Members: </strong>
</p><p>Cayde-6: Rooster</p><p>Shiro-4: Thunder Bird</p><p>Tevis: Sphinx</p><p>It is an unsaid rule that while the original five did found the clan, it was the young female hunter, Skylar that brought them all together and made it happen. The clan is open by way of personal invitation from a founder only, normally including a test that- REDACTED -once that’s finished and your symbol picked, you are in. Not a great many are ever inducted in as many find the fact that this clan’s members often have raid like missions and are said to be the Vanguard’s most trusted in regard to humanity’s safety as a team.</p><p>Personal information on each founding member is as follows…</p><p>REDACTED.</p><p>ENCRYPTED FILE.</p><p>SECURITY BREACH.</p><p>…Immediate shut down in progress…</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Rose</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cayde and Skylar wait for dawn.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yeah... I failed at the challenge I know. Things came up. I moved. Blah, blah...<br/>I'm still going to finish this though, so stay tuned.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Neither Cayde nor Skylar knew why she didn’t feel the cold most times. On the rare occasions she did, she often described it as feeling icy crawling across her bones. It wasn’t to say her body didn’t get cold, is certainly did and often tried to fight against it with shivers and chattering teeth if it got bad enough, but she didn’t feel it, not until something warm touched her skin.</p><p>Tonight, was such a night. They sat on a slopping roof high up in the middle of the city, waiting for the sun to rise over the snow caped mountains. Cayde had first noticed when he’s spotted goosebumps on an exposed strip of skin from her hoodie and when he’d reached out to touch her hand, sure enough, they were icy cold. Cold enough he was surprised the tips of her fingers weren’t blue. So, like any good concerned boy friend he done what he always did: pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her.</p><p>Skylar snuggled closer for a moment, absently and she pressed her nose into the soft material at his neck and Cayde checked his heating systems, finding that they still thought he was cold, even though it was her. He’d figured out a while back that if she was this cold, his body couldn’t tell the difference and between that and some minimally used solar light, she was warm and safe and Cayde got to hold her as tight as he wanted too.</p><p>With how cold it was getting at night, and how cold is remained during the day, the exo knew it was only a matter of time before the snow in the mountains found its way down into the city. It was always snowing by the time The Dawning came around, and that was only a month away. Excitement fluttered across his chest and mind. Running a hand down one of Skylar’s arm he tried to stop a grin from forming. He couldn’t wait. He was going to rock her world.</p><p>“You never get tired of this, do you?” She mused quietly, referring to the situation. Cayde shifted slightly, his legs half tangled around hers. He chuckled.</p><p>“Why would anyone get tried of holding the person they love this close?” he questioned with humor before tuning his head slightly to press mouth plats to the top of her amber lit head. “It makes me feel special that I’m the only one that can do this for you, chase away the cold. Makes me feel like we’re fated.” Though, he supposed any exo with solar Light could done this, like Shiro, but Cayde didn’t feel like mentioning it. He preferred to think otherwise.  She made a small sound, like she blew out a breath sharply through her nose, and he knew she was smiling. Then he felt lips against the cording in his neck and a gentle nip.</p><p>He resisted the sudden urge to roll them over on the roof, pin her down, and have his way with her. That really won’t help right now, the tile was colder than she had been. Maybe later once the sun rose over the mountains and he walked her back to her room. Maybe he would stay, back her up against and wall and do things then. He could wait for that – it was worth it. <em>She</em> was worth it.</p><p>Cayde looked forward for a moment, seeing how the dark blue of night started to turn lighter around the mountains, signally the very edge of a new day. Noting they only had a few more minutes, he shifted his hold on her and pulled her close and up, forcing her away from his neck so he could meet her gaze. She was beautiful, even in the shadows of a reseeding night. Skylar’s lips twitched into a smile and she leaned forward nuzzle the rim of his cheek bone and dip into the hallow below. A quiet thank you. The hunter closed his eyes and let out a small, content sigh before turning his head and finding her lips.</p><p>Soft and quiet, it wasn’t often exos used their tongue unless they were eating, but he did with her, gradually getting her to deepen the kiss, plats nipping at her low lip and she made quiet happy sounds. Nothing to fair, that would come later, just a taste, a small moment to quell some of that burning, aching fire in his circuits.</p><p>Traveler he loved her, more than he’d even thought possible.</p><p>When the sun did rise, he got to see one of his favorite sights. The light of dawn lit her hair like a soft caress and made sparks of solar fire in her amber eyes. His arms tightened around her again, determined to never let the cold seep into her bones again. She was his, but he was so much happier to be hers.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Dance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It's raining, Skylar has a plan.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The rain was pouring when they’d stepped outside from the bar they’d been in. It coming down in sheets that blurred everything it touched. Skylar looked up at the sky, pressing her lips together as her boyfriend grumbled. He wasn’t one for rain, most exo weren’t. She had never minded it much, she thought it smelled good when it rained, like it was cleaning everything away.</p><p>“Would it be overkill if I called my ship to get us back to the tower?” He asked glancing at her sideways. Skylar laughed and nodded her head.</p><p>“You can’t do that, Zavala would kill you… and then wait for Sun to bring you back just to do it again.” Her answer gets a small grumbling curse about blue walls and no fun. Still smiling Skylar leaned out of cover slightly, glancing in both directions down the street. It’s late enough that no one is around, leaving the sound of the rain to patter loud in her ears. Her smile turned into a smirk and tugged on his arm slightly before walking out into the rain without pause. The Exo dug his feet in, making her hand let go as the water drenches her in seconds, soaking through her cropped leather jacket as if it weren’t there. Cayde gave her an exasperated look. “Oh, come on Cayde.” She put her hands on her hips.</p><p>“Let’s just go get another drink and wait it out,” he suggested, glancing back towards the door. Skylar frowned at him.</p><p>“They’re not going to let me back in Cayde,” she told him, tilting her head. “What kind of frontier master is scared of rain?” she teased and he huffed before finally stepped out as well, flinching slightly as the water makes short work of his cloak and hoodie – he hadn’t had time to change before come out to meet her.</p><p>“Let's hurry back and get to the tower then,” he grumbled and Skylar rolled her eyes.</p><p>“It’s not that bad,” she brushed her bangs back, slick against her scalp. “The rain can be fun you know – what happened to that silly man I was just having a drink with.” Taking a step back she leaned against a cold streetlight, the yellow halo of it throwing her shadow right at him. Cayde watched her, tilting his head slightly.</p><p>“He got soaked,” he grumbled, “And what exactly can you do in the rain that can’t be done when it’s not raining Skylar?” So grumpy, she hated when he got like this. She understood why the rain brought up bad memories, understood it reminded him of Andle, and of her and Tevis. It had been raining when his best friend had died, and it had been pouring the night Cayde had stood waiting in the Vanguard room, thinking both her and Tevis were gone. Bad memories and Skylar wanted him to have good memories as well. So, she leaned forward, grabbing the pole with one arm and reaching out with the other, her hand skimming his jawline.</p><p>“Amazing things can happen in the rain Cayde, you just have to want them too.” Running her finger up the side of his horn he closed his eyes slightly at the feeling, meaning he didn’t see her smirk as she let go of the pull and took a sudden step forward. “And maybe,” she mused. “You'll have one… if you can catch me.” With that, she deftly flipped his soaked hood off his head and turned away a moment after shock registered over his face. She bolted, ignoring her name as he called her back. Her boots splashed through puddles as she skidded around the corner and then heard the faint sounds of someone following her.</p><p>Good.  </p><p>Blink stepping at just the right moment she avoided Cayde as he tried to make a grab at her and laughed, turning to look at him and take a few steps backwards before she was off again. Their game of cat and mouse was more elegant by far than any child’s game or titan shoulder charge, but it was still a silly sight to see she was sure. Two hunters running and jumping around in the rain, their normal silent steps heard in the splash and skid of water. Skylar didn’t care, this was exactly what he’d needed if the huffing laugh she’d heard behind her meant anything. It wasn’t what they normally did, but their movements reminded Skylar of their nights in the clubs, twisting, and turning and sometimes avoiding each other.</p><p>Running around a corner, her foot suddenly slipped on a sheet of metal someone had laid on the ground, and while she caught herself, using the momentum to slid forward in a couch, it was too late. One quick blink step and she felt arms around her, grabbing her and carefully pinning her to the wall of the building next to her. Breathing hard, she relaxed against the cool building, meeting Cayde’s eyes as he let out his own series of rapid breaths. Water was sliding down his face in rivulets and dripping off his horn and jaw. He was soaked, but the upwards tilt of his hinges told her he was smiling.</p><p>“You are unbelievable, you know that?” he said breathlessly. “Dragging me out here in the rain, leading me around the city, and making me love every damn minute of it.” He huffed and she grinned.</p><p>“You make it sound like that’s a bad thing,” she mused, noting that one of his hands was sliding up over her shoulder and to her neck. “I told you good things happen in the rain.”</p><p>“Yeah,” he relented. “And I know how to make them even better.” He kissed her before she could say anything, so she just hummed and let him have his prize for catching her. If he needed her too, she’d always let him catch her.   </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Poem</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Even Guardians have instant messaging...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Private group chat log via Holo-pad Network is as follows:</em>
</p><p>
  <em>**PhantomFalcon has joined the chat**</em>
</p><p><strong>SpicyRamenBoi:</strong> There’s my girl! ;)</p><p><strong>AllHailTripMines:</strong> Hey Sky.</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> Hey guys.</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> So Shaxx is trying to write a poem for Mara again.</p><p><strong>SpicyRamenBoi:</strong> Again?</p><p><strong>AllHailTripMines:</strong> Ha! Really? That’s amazing.  </p><p><strong>SpicyRamenBoi:</strong> I repeat: again?</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> Don’t you remember? Last Crimson Days, he was asking Eva about it. Ended up gifting the Queen a bow of all things.</p><p><strong>AllHailTripMines:</strong> Yeah, too bad he got turned down…</p><p><strong>SpicyRamenBoi:</strong> Oh yeah! I remember that now. Poor guy. Appears he hasn’t given up though?</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> This is Shaxx we’re talking about.</p><p><strong>BroomHeadBeacon:</strong> So, what’s his angle this time?</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> Oh, hey Haar, when’d you get in here?</p><p><strong>AllHailTripMines:</strong> It didn’t even say he joined the chat!</p><p><strong>SpicyRamenBoi:</strong> Not every day a titan sneaks past three hunters. This isn’t going to be forgotten anytime soon.</p><p><strong>BroomHeadBeacon:</strong> Heh…</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> Fuck.</p><p><strong>AllHailTripMines:</strong> Shit.</p><p><strong>SpicyRamenBoi:</strong> &gt;D ROFL</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> Cayde, you’re not helping.</p><p>
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</p><p><strong>BroomHeadBeacon:</strong> Anyway, back to my question: how’s he going about it this time?</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> he wouldn’t tell me, just asked if ‘women apricate hand made gifts more than bought ones.’</p><p><strong>SpicyRamenBoi:</strong> … what was your answer?</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> Cayde!</p><p><strong>SpicyRamenBoi:</strong> What?! I’m curious now!</p><p><strong>AllHailTripMines:</strong> Do you still not know what you’re getting her?</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> Getting me? O_o</p><p><strong>SpicyRamenBoi:</strong> Z!</p><p><strong>AllHailTripMines:</strong> Sorry, not sorry. :P</p><p>
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</p><p><strong>SpicyRamenBoi:</strong> That’s it, I’m grounding him for a week. Nothing but Scanning missions in cold ass Russia.</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> ???</p><p><strong>BroomHeadBeacon:</strong> Lol.</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> Cayde, what was he talking about?</p><p><strong>SpicyRamenBoi:</strong> Nothing, he was talking about nothing.</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> Cayde…</p><p><strong>SpicyRamenBoi:</strong> Sorry, g2g – Zavala just figured out I’m not reading reports. Love ya!</p><p>
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</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> He did not just do that…</p><p><strong>BroomHeadBeacon:</strong> He did.</p><p><strong>BroomHeadBeacon:</strong> Probably best to not think too much on it. Who knows what those two were actually talking about.</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> I suppose… Do you really think he still doesn’t know what I like?</p><p><strong>BroomHeadBeacon:</strong> He knows Sky – he's just being, well, him.</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> Ha. Right.</p><p><strong>BroomHeadBeacon:</strong> … So, what did you tell Shaxx?</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> That is it didn’t matter as long as it showed that the person actually paid attention and got me something that would mean something to me, not just any random person on the street.</p><p><strong>BroomHeadBeacon:</strong> Sounds about right. Hope it helps him.</p><p><strong>PhantomFalcon:</strong> Me too. Anyway, I’ve g2g. I’m meeting Winter in a few minutes for a mission briefing with Ikora.</p><p><strong>BroomHeadBeacon:</strong> Okay. Be careful.</p><p><strong> PhantomFalcon:</strong> Always am.</p><p>
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</p><p><strong><em>BroomHeadBeacon Private Message to SpicyRamenBoi:</em></strong> You owe me a drink. Also, you were right, so stop overthinking it. You know her better than you think. Good luck.</p><p>
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